Logs and chartwork: Just Cruising by Keith Fleming

JUST CRUISING BY KEITH FLEMING.

Should the electronic plotter go on the blink or the handheld GPS fail, what do you do?

A total reliance on electronic navigation aids has meant that basic chartwork has often been neglected and skippers are loosing the ability to navigate or keep records. In the past, paper charts and sextants were the methods used and a vessel's log was (and still is) a legal document. Also, it's no accident that prospective Yachtmaster Ocean candidates still need to know these skills. A typical scenario: you are following that bright green line on the plotter as you close the coast at nigh time and suddenly the screen goes blank. If you should be close to reefs or unsure of your position in a shipping channel, what do you do next? This is where keeping a log is so important. The log is not just to record important events during the day and night, but it is also a diary of where you have been and the latitude and longitude for each hour of your trip. If your electronics fail then you have a starting point of where you were at the last hour and can quickly work back (taking account of speed and current) to

This knowledge should also be shared by the skipper as it's important that the crew know how to keep the log and to do this they need to be able to take a position fix from the instruments. Another scenario is the cruising couple, where typically the bloke does the navigation but what happens if he has a heart attack or falls overboard? Would his partner or crew be able to inform rescuers of their current position? Plotting your position is also a form of backup, especially important when it comes to electronics, so do you have a separate GPS as well as the one in the chart plotter? On an overseas trip I always carry a spare GPS to back up the main one and, of course, paper charts are still a must for serious cruisers. They are also a must for anyone who does not have a chart plotter. The rocks and reefs on a paper chart are still there and even though they are on a chart plotter they were originally taken from a paper chart. The GPS has certainly done away with the old sextant but it takes some skill to be able to correctly use a GPS and interpret the information that it yields. After talking to some coastal cruisers, I am amazed at their lack of knowledge on the use of the Cross Track Error display, for example, or their ability to transfer the information to a paper chart so you have a permanent and visual record of where you have been.

You at least should know the basics: your last hourly position, your bearing towards the next waypoint, speed, tide and the boat's course in relation to the rhumb line. Keeping a regular log gives you the peace of mind of knowing where you are and where you are going. Not only should the crew be competent at navigation but they should also be just as competent at using the radio and operating the autopilot. There is not much point in doing man-overboard drills if the crew cannot mark the spot immediately on the GPS or plotter to give rescue services the basic information. A lot of training time is spent impressing skippers to do M.O.B drills but forget to spend equal time on instructing them how to call up assistance. Often the crew is not competent or strong enough or well enough to actually turn a fully sailed heavy yacht around in the dark to search for someone lost overboard, but they are competent (or should be) to activate EPIRBs, read a GPS or chart plotter, use a radio, deploy a life ring and activate the MOB button on the GPS. Can your crew do all those things?

The use of a paper chart that is marked each hour with the yacht?s position has not gone out of fashion. Alongside the cross that marks the position should also be pencilled the LAT and LONG of that mark.

Pencilling in these marks, of course, means that they can be rubbed off at any time, but keeping them can be useful. I make a practice of also including the date so that next time I am sailing past the area the previous trip can be referenced. This gives me a date to refer back to in the log for any information that might be pertinent to this trip, handy when problems occur, such as being unable to make an anchorage before nightfall. It is one thing to use ?eyeball? navigation and another to be able to navigate in the dark. Another piece of equipment to assist with navigation along a coastline is radar. It takes a lot of skill to interpret the information on a radar screen so if you possess one make sure that your crew is also competent. The skipper might be able to read it well but when the new watch comes on can they read it? It is the skipper?s responsibility to teach the crew how to operate all the navigational instruments as well as keeping up a written log every hour. If nothing else, it will help ensure they are awake.